Spotflux is a VPN that seems promising from the outset. The service was launched in 2012 and was started by two privacy advocates that came from a strong decade-long background in infosec. Before the full launch four years ago, Spotflux ran a beta test, and in less than a year it had attracted 100,000 users from 121 countries. That is pretty good going, and certainly made my ears prick up as I came in for my up close and personal inspection of the VPN service. Spotflux also claims to be the ‘most advanced VPN in the world’, so let’s take a look the service. Overall, Spotflux is a free or low-cost VPN service that is available for Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. It is an adequate service with some pretty cool features. Despite what it has going for it, however, Spotflux doesn’t compare to high-end VPN services. Sophos Home protects every Mac and PC in your home from malicious software, inappropriate websites and viruses. It uses the same award-winning technology that IT professionals trust to protect their business systems. Best of all, you can manage security settings for the whole family from any browser. As long as you expect to get what you pay for, though, Spotflux provides a reasonable service that may well suit some people. Pricing & Plans Spotflux is a simple, no frills VPN service for,, Android and Windows. What is great is that free users are not limited by how much data they can use. As such, Spotflux is a great way to encrypt the web traffic moving in and out of your system if that is what you need it for. Free users can only connect to a few servers situated in Australia, the UK, Frankfurt, and the East and West coasts of the US. Even though that is rather limited, for a free service it still opens up plenty of options for streaming, and guarantees access to websites like Facebook and Twitter in regions where they are blocked. In addition to the free VPN encryption service, users are offered the possibility of an upgrade to Premium. This costs $37.99 per year for 5 simultaneous devices or $29.99 for the mobile only version. The mobile-only option is a pretty handy inclusion for those people that only need a VPN on one device, such as a phone or tablet. If you do only need Spotflux on one mobile device, that works out to an average of two and a half dollars a month, which certainly is a very cheap VPN option. Even at $37.99, the cost of Spotflux isn’t exactly earth shattering. In fact, some might say it’s next to nothing. Monthly plan Spotflux also offers a monthly plan for people that don’t want to commit for a full year. It costs $4.99 per month and gives you full access to the premium service on a month-by-month basis. Obviously, paying for a year at a time will work out considerably cheaper, with savings of $21.89 in total. Premium and mobile packages Paid subscribers gain the benefit of the following features: • Access to all of the Spotflux server locations in France – Paris, Germany – Frankfurt, Japan – Tokyo, Netherlands – Amsterdam, Singapore, UK – London, USA – New York, USA – Miami and USA – Silicon Valley. • Mobile data compression to help save on bandwidth. • Five simultaneous connections (On the premium account, not the cheaper mobile service where you get one). • Enhanced privacy, including the ability to block tracking cookies and other internet spyware. • Premium support (as opposed to virtually none). CONS: • Poor customer support • Based in the US • No P2P allowed • 3rd party ads are delivered to users of the free service • BBC iPlayer not available • Connection logs kept Features P2P downloading Peer to peer is sadly not permitted on Spotflux free, mobile, or premium versions of the service. From its website: ‘Unfortunately, we cannot support the use of Bittorrent (or similar P2P file sharing protocols) on our network due to its widespread abuse in violating copyright laws. Spotflux is a service designed to increase your privacy and security on the web but not a service to safe harbor online activity from nefarious or illegal acts.’ In addition, on the free version only your web browser data will be encrypted – other applications will also continue to use your regular connection. Malware and advert blocking One of the features that Spotflux boasts of is built in software that scans for malware and viruses (including malicious ads). That software, users are told, detects threats and eliminates them: Spotflux also regularly updates its servers to scan for widespread malware such as. This is a reasonable feature that not all VPNs offer and can therefore be seen as something of a bonus of the service.
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